Mistislaw
From 1003 onwards, Mistislaw's ability to secure Saxon support was eroded by Henry II's alliance with the Lutici against the Polish prince Boleslaw I.
In February 1018, the Lutici invaded the Obotrite kingdom, incited unrest among the population, and compelled Mistislaw to seek refuge in the Saxon Bardengau.
At the head of a delegation of Obotrite armoured horsemen, he crossed the Alps in 981/982 in the wake of the Saxon Duke Bernhard I to reinforce the imperial army in the southern part of the empire.
At this juncture, the emperor initiated a military campaign against the Saracens, who had advanced from Sicily to the southern Italian mainland under the leadership of their emir Abu al-Qasim.
[9] By medieval standards, this number is hardly believable,[10] particularly when one considers that the emperor had only requested a total of 2090 armoured riders from the northern part of the empire in his call-up order.
[11] Nevertheless, the number of Obotrite warriors must have been exceptionally high, as Bernhard I promised the marriage of his niece to Mistislaw in return for their participation in the campaign, thus creating a dynastic connection between the two princely houses.
Upon demanding the fulfilment of the marriage promise, Count Dietrich von Haldensleben refused to provide him with the bride, stating that a duke's blood relative should not be given to a dog.
[15] Conversely, it seems unlikely that Dietrich's ethnic reservations about a marriage between the Slavic prince's son and the Saxon princess were a significant factor in his opposition to the union.
[18] Mistislaw's father, Mstivoj, was married to the sister of the Oldenburg bishop, Wago,[19] and a relative of the Saxon duke, Bernhard I, Weldrud, had been given in marriage to the Wagrian prince, Sederich.
[21] In contrast, Peter Donat[22] and Jürgen Petersohn[23] propose that a friendly visit by King Otto III to Mecklenburg in September 995 could have taken place on the occasion of Mistislav's enthronement.
The majority of scholars today assume that the ecclesiastical structures were permanently abolished in 990 and that Mistislaw still held at most a loose overlordship over the Wagrian prince Sederich.
Rather, the lower nobility possessed a range of ancestral rights, including the independent administration of their castle districts and the installation and removal of the ruler.
The opposition nobles found allies in the pagan priesthood, whose influence Mistislaw sought to eliminate by expanding the Christian church organisation and the associated missionary work among the population.
The veracity of reports by the Bosau priest Helmold in his Chronica Slavorum from around 1167 that Mistislaw had turned against the Christian church and dissolved the nunnery on Mecklenburg Castle[34] is increasingly being questioned by researchers.
King Otto III's friendly visit to Mecklenburg in the autumn of 995 was also an expression of cordial relations with the royal court, which had its roots in the common enmity with the Lutici.
Upon learning of the events in his diocese, Bishop Bernhard expressed his profound concern to Emperor Henry II, though he "sighed heavily, but postponed a decision until Easter in order to resolve the unfortunate web of conspiracy according to a well-considered plan".
[44] In his Hamburg Church History, written around 1070, Adam of Bremen reports learning of a Slavic prince named Mistislaw, under whom peace had reigned in the territory of the Obotrites.
Confusion between Mistislaw and his father Mstivoj by Adam of Bremen and Helmold of Bosau led to ambiguities that hindered historians' attempts to establish a lineage of the Nakonids.
[52] Previously, various historians had posited that Mistislaw had endeavoured to establish a royal-like rule based on territorial succession by eliminating the hereditary rights of the lower nobility.
